Green (public) procurement in practice - methods and tools for the successful implementation

Abstract

Nowadays we hear more and more in the media about climate change, CO2 emissions, environmental protection and sustainability. These expressions should be given a meaning and recommendations should be provided for authorities, companies, and individuals to take action. The topic of this article is green procurement, a tool that is to be used to reach sustainable consumption patterns, to further innovation, and to create a market to eco-technologies. Green procurement means that procurers take environmental issues into account when buying goods or services. The goal is to reduce the impact of procurement on the environment (CO2 emissions, toxic material, amount of waste, etc.) and human health. Buying green is one of the most active and most demonstrative ways to protect the environment, and it is a tool that every individual, public authority, and private company can use to cooperate in tackling climate change. Procuring green and energy efficient products and learning how to decide whether a product is environmental friendly or not creates more awareness among people, helps giving the expression „sustainable consumption” a meaning, and shows the actions that can be done for it. In this article we will focus mainly on public authorities and private companies. The green procurement concept needs to be promoted and supported by a toolkit (with guidelines, ready-to-use criteria, and calculation tools for several product groups) that makes implementation easier. We would like to develop a consulting, educational, and auditing system that would be suitable for introducing green public procurement in Hungary effectively. Keywords: green procurement, sustainable consumption, toolkit, public procurement